Neat "Receipt" Scanner

Neat Reciept Scanner


ended - Friday, September 19, 2008

Auction grade: D

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $53.00


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a "like new" hand held scanner used for scanning small pieces of paper such as receipts and business cards. The item's picture shows quite a few accessories, so since it isn't mentioned, it's believed that this is complete and not missing any parts.

In the auction's title, the seller makes the biggest mistake in the entire auction. And just what is that horrible mistake? The misspelling of "receipt"!!!

Why do I make such a big deal about spelling errors, especially in the title?

I make a big deal because poor grammar and spelling is one of the biggest problems that I constantly see at eBay and across websites of all content. It's easier than ever to construct simple sentences and through the use of word processors and sites like Dictionary.com, spelling mistakes should be a thing of the past.

Does it really matter?

Yes it does if you, the seller, want to make money!

Spelling errors are the buyers best friends. When seller cannot spell the item correctly, the auction is not going to show up in that many searches. As a result there is much less traffic to the auction. Less traffic means fewer bids and a substantially lower final selling price assuming that it sells at all.

This auction in particular already has three bids and is up to $22.49 in the bidding process. With a few days left and no reserve price, obviously this is going to sell. For comparison, I saw this same exact item for sale with a similar amount of time left for its auction, and that bidding price was already up to $75. Then again, that other auction had a slightly better title with everything spelled correctly!

The smart sellers know about this mistake and will use it to their advantage. And how does the smart seller use this technique? By using the correct version and all other common misspellings of the word(s).

For most common items and famous names & titles, you can assume that most buyers know how to spell it correctly. That's a safe bet. You can also assume that no matter what, some people will never learn the correct way and will continue to spell it however they see fit. Some people go against grammar rules (such as the famous "i before e except after c" as in this auction), and others will try to spell items phonetically, assuming that they can even say it properly.

The strategy is fairly simple to cash in on those buyers. No matter what, you'll want to have the correct spelling of the item once in the title and again in the description. This will ensure that your auction will eventually show up in the search engine (increasing the auction's search engine ranking is a different strategy).

If you still have room in the title after using good key words, the most common misspelling of the item should be added. After that, use a creative way to add the other misspellings to the main body of text in the auction's description. Taking the few extra moments to use this strategy will help your auction get exposed to the maximum number of buyers possible.

Getting back to this auction, the title could also use more key words and search terms. If this item has one, the model number should go into the title. "Accounting," "personal," and even "finance" could be good search terms. There's a lot of valuable real estate in this title, and it's a shame to let it go to waste like that.

Remember, the default search engine setting has eBay only looking in the auction's title! You have to go into the advanced settings to have it also search in the description!

The auction's description isn't bad. I don't like the grammar or wording, but seeing the selling prices of other personal, hand held scanners, this one should sell for a high price fairly easily. The seller could improve his credibility and professionalism by spelling the item's title and other official information exactly as it is printed in the user manual. Again, if there is a model number, it also needs to go in this section.

Remember - You don't want the buyer to have any doubt as to what it is exactly that they're viewing in the auction. If they're not sure, chances are very good that they'll go look at another auction. Even if they send you a question they're still going to look around while waiting for your response. You did the work to get them to your auction, so why give them the chance to look elsewhere for basic information that should be clearly labeled?

The PayPal only paying option really isn't that big of a deal anymore since eBay is really pushing buyers and sellers to use it.

Finally, the picture could look a little bit better. It looks pretty informal with all of the pieces spread out on the bedspread like that. The spread makes for a great backdrop for items, though this could use a little adjusting with the overall layout.


Overall, I gave this auction a low score because of the seller's sloppy approach to selling this scanner. Misspelling the item in the title is a big deal, and as pointed out above, it's already costing this person money. The auction's description needs to be rewritten with more of an emphasis on the item for sale and its details. The picture could also be retaken, but that's more of a minor issue.

Miniature LONDON TOWER BRIDGE - Pencil Sharpener -Neat!

Miniature LONDON TOWER BRIDGE - Pencil Sharpener -Neat!


Auction ended - Thursday, September 4, 2008

Auction grade: B+

Starting bid: $2.50

Final selling price: $3.25


Up for sale in this eBay auction is brand new desktop pencil sharpener modeled after London's famous Tower Bridge. This is part of the "Landmark Series," and the seller claims this comes with the original box.

Overall, this is a fairly well organized auction on eBay. The title focuses on several good search engine words and phrases, and that should definitely help bring in curious customers. The picture clearly shows the item for sale, and the seller even gave us the item's basic dimensions. It would have helped a little bit if the seller could have provided a little extra information about the "Landmark Series," such as other items in the collection or if there's a website with more information.

I'd be very surprised if this pencil sharpener sold for that much higher than the current bid of $2.50. Let's face it, unless this is an antique, made out of solid gold, or encrusted in precious jewels, these types of items usually have low selling prices. Does that mean that you shouldn't try to sell one yourself? Certainly not.

There are at least three good reasons for selling small, cheap items:
1) Each small sale will help increase your feedback rating and scores, even if you make a very small profit.
2) This is a great way to gain personal experience and try out different selling techniques. The fees are very low for selling cheap items, so there's little risk in trying a different way of constructing your auction.
3) Small items can be grouped together with other miscellaneous or, ideally, other similar items. Selling items in lots is a much better way of moving cheap merchandise and has a higher chance of earning a larger profit. It can even work out cheaper doing one auction instead of multiple auctions and paying all of the fees associated with them.

German / Soviet POW story

WWII booklet/book! PRISONER OF WAR! STORY! NEAT!


Auction ended: Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a book about being a Soviet prisoner-of-war during World War 2. There's just one minor catch with this book - it's written entirely in German.

For starters, this auction's title is very childish and does very little to sell the product or even capture your imagination. "STORY!" and "NEAT!" is just plain dumb when talking about a person's ordeals through one of the world's largest and costliest conflicts. This technique is also insulting to those people who have an actual interest in this subject. "German", "Soviet", and "Russia" would have been much better words in the title.

The auction's description is also horrible. At no point does this seller even try to describe this book or make an attempt at selling it. According to this seller, this is "a REALLY NEAT WWII BOOK" about "A STORY ABOUT A PRISONER OF WAR!" that is "INTERESTING READING!!!" and "READY FOR YOUR COLLECTION!!!" (in there twice, so it must really be important).

This is complete crap when it comes to marketing the product. You can easily tell that this seller has not done any product research and, apart from looking at the barb wire on the cover, knows nothing about this book or the author. When it comes to selling a non-fiction book, it definitely helps to have at least a little bit of background information about the person who went through the experience and wrote the story.

Apart from the horrible title and description, the seller did a good job with the pictures and low starting bid.

So can this auction be salvaged and turned into a winner? I honestly don't know.

The main problem with this auction and item for sale deals with the book itself. This is a book written in German (no English translation as far as I know). That problem alone is going to vastly limit the target audience here in the U.S. There are many people interested in P.O.W. stories, but the language barrier is something very hard to overcome. This seller would probably be best off marketing this book to high school and college foreign language departments, though it's probably too advanced or difficult for most of those students.

If I were to pursue this auction, I would just include it in a lot of other German or World War 2 books and other small items. It's easy to find basic information about the seller and talk about that in the auction's description, but that alone won't make the sale. If you're not knowledgeable about this author or subject, it's not worth it to take the extra time to educate yourself. You could be marketing other items instead.

plush Oscar Mayer Wienermobile toy

OSCAR MAYER WIENER MOBIL PLUSH NEAT COME AND SEE


Auction ended - Friday, July 11, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a "gently used" plush Oscar Mayer "Weinermobile" toy.

For starters, the auction's title could definitely use some improving to help appear in more eBay searches. "WIENER MOBIL" is best off being one word and spelled correctly as "Wienermobile". There aren't that many items for sale related to this unique car, but it's still necessary to at least spell it correctly.

This seller is also unnecessarily wasting space by doing something like "COME AND SEE" in the title. Considering that this is a rather unique item for sale, a generic eye-catching phrase like that isn't really that useful. Now if this seller was selling something more generic such as clothes or a decoration, then a phrase like that could be more beneficial. In this case the seller could add more search engine relevant terms such as "toy", "car", "unique" or even "hot dog".

The auction's description is almost non-existent. The only new information that's not in the title is that this is a small toy and in great condition. Otherwise, what is written there is in one giant run-on sentence.

The description is the perfect spot to spend a few minutes and tell us potential buyers a little bit about this one-of-a-kind vehicle that has captured the imagination of many people throughout the last seventy years. A little bit of research can go a long way. Remember that you're not only educating the buyers and adding value to this item, but you're also adding more search engine key words and terms.

The description is also the place to use alternate spellings of this famous car. Not everybody searching for an item like this one knows how to spell it correctly, so in the description you might casually reference other spellings such as "Weinermobile" or "Wiener Mobile".

This seller's picture taking skills could use some enhancing. The carpeting is a good background, but the first picture is blurry and both pictures need to be zoomed. Too much of the background is showing in the pictures.

The last area of correction deals with all of the text relating to shipping, payment, terms of sale, and about the seller. To cut right to the point, the seller needs to learn to organize her thoughts and write clear sentences. The seller spends way too much time and energy trying to explain all the ways she can be helpful with shipping, but it gets confusing after a while. Rethink your thoughts and write a few sentences as clearly as possible. You can even use bullet points if necessary.

The last thing you want is for the potential buyer to reach this point of your auction and suddenly become sad or confused. This is when you want the buyer to be happy, pumped up, and ready to place a bid. If they see something that makes them think twice about committing to the sale, they're probably going to leave your auction. You did all that work to get them there, don't let them leave after making it all the way to the bottom of the auction!

"At this point in time I will only except PayPal, Money Orders and Cashiers Checks. I DO NOT except personal checks, so please don't ask!"

On a final note, it's "accept", not "except"!

D.R.G.M. tin railroad watch tower

Antique Bing Tin Tinplate Railroad Watch Tower


Auction ended - Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Auction grade: C

Starting bid: $69.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an antique tin railroad watch tower.

The title for this auction looks pretty good. The seller seems to have hit most of the major key words and search terms based on the item's description. However, some really good key words are missing, but that will be addressed in just a bit.

The item's description is also pretty good. The seller seemed to do a reasonable job telling us some details about the item for sale. The description isn't exciting and doesn't really create that "must have" feeling, but basic details about the watch tower are there.

I would like to know how the seller can back up this claim: "Very unique hard to find piece." A statement like that implies that the seller did research into the product, but if that was true, then the seller would have mentioned more information about the history and approximate age of this vintage item. The seller would have also discovered more key words for the title.

So far the auction looks pretty good. However, this is the part where the auction takes a turn for the worse and the seller drops the ball on doing some research.

Basic Internet research shows that "D.R.G.M." stands for "Deutsches Reich Gebrauchsmuster", known in English as "German Reich Registered Design". This abbreviation was used on items manufactured in Germany between 1890 and 1945. The seller would have to do a bit more digging to find exact information about this particular item, but knowing the year range is a good start.

The other problem with this auction deals with the pictures. It's good that the seller took multiple pictures of this item. But if the pictures are blurry, from bad angles, and obscured by reflections from the flash, does it do any good to even use pictures? No, it will only waste your own time and money. The best approach is to invest in a small tripod and learn to take longer exposure pictures that don't use the flash. Natural daylight will provide an ample amount of light, and using a tripod will greatly help keep your camera steady and the pictures in focus. This seller may also want to make a designated picture taking area complete with a neutral backdrop. In addition to looking bad and unprofessional, having other items not for sale in the background will confuse some of the potential buyers.

Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction. Additional work on the seller's part will help increase the value of this railroad watch tower and bring in buyers searching for different terms. The extra bit of research is definitely worth it for items with high starting bid prices like this one.

Toy WW2 era cannon

VINTAGE WW 11 ERA SMALL WOOD CANNON 8-1/2 IN LONG NR


Auction ended - Thursday, July 3, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $1.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a wooden toy cannon. The seller claims that this toy is from the 1940's though nothing in the statement backs up this claim.

For starters, if you want to market something as being from the Second World War era, do not type it as "WW11". That is flat out wrong! "WW2" is fine along with "WWII", but do not substitute the I's with 1's. In addition to severely limiting yourself in the search engine, this is also insulting to the veterans who served in the war. If you're going to use that time period to help market your item, you could at least learn how to use a proper acronym.

In addition to correcting "WW 11", "IN LONG NR" could also safely be removed and substituted for words such as "toy" and "collectible". Don't waste space in the title when there are still search engine relevant terms not being used.

The auction's title has two main goals:
1) Get the auction into as many different searches as possible to maximize its visibility.
2) Be attractive enough to capture a buyer's curiosity enough for them to click on the link.

The auction's description is a complete pile of unorganized mess. The first sentence briefly tells us about the item for sale, though there really isn't any new information. It's just a repeat of what is already mentioned in the title. The only new thing is that we now know this is from an estate sale.

The rest of the description is the seller rambling on how he goes to auctions and estate sales for the purpose of reselling items. By doing so for apparently over thirty years he's accumulated a bunch of stuff, so now he's selling a bunch of it to make some room at his place.

Psychologically, this seller would have been better off not telling us his life story about buying items for dirt cheap and then reselling them to other people. By doing so the seller presents himself as one of those "shady salesmen" who just want to make a quick buck and move on to the next person. People are less inclined to buy from someone they see as a "middle man" versus a collector or a "regular" person selling some items from around the house.

In truth, there's nothing wrong with purchasing items for the sole purpose of reselling it. That's how many of the small retail stores operate throughout the country. Most people don't see any problems with this practice, and many of them support it without even realizing it.

Let's take a look at this seller's auction and how it shows off the "bad side" of reselling.
A) This seller types in all capital letters and cannot form complete sentences. This person also has problems using correct acronyms.
B) The picture sucks and the cannon looks like crap. It's really showing its age and needs to be refurbished.
C) This seller brags about buying items for wholesale, in auctions, and at estate sales.
D) This is a PowerSeller and many of his other auctions have this similar shoddy format.

So in other words, this person presents himself as only being out there to make a quick buck, likes to brag about how he can find deals, cannot type, and clearly doesn't take the time to take decent pictures or put together an even semi-professional auction. As a buyer, does that make you feel good about giving your hard-earned money to this person?

The best approach is for this seller to stop talking about the estate sales and other sources of cheap items. If that's your only way of acquiring items, then don't mention it at all. Focus instead on the actual item for sale first, and then our own policies after that.

Small collection of vintage video games

Vintage Coleco Adam&Atari


Auction ended - Thursday, June 26, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $10.00

Final selling price: $57.78


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of vintage video games as well as catalogs, newsletters, and programming and hacking guides. These games and guides are for old Coleco, Adam and Atari gaming systems.

For starters, this auction's title really needs additional key words such as "games", "video games", "guide", "book", "newsletter", "collection", and even "lot". Any combination of those additional words should help bring in more potential buyers.

The actual item description for this auction needs to be rewritten with a bullet point format. It's good that the seller listed all of the games and literature in this auction (everything listed counts as additional search engine material). The big problem is that the text needs to be spaced out better to make it easier to read. In this case, a set of bullet points for each gaming system would be perfect.

Just to play it safe, the seller is better off mentioning that this auction does not come with any of the actual gaming consoles. Some people will mistaking believe that they're supposed to be included, and it'll just end up costing time and money in the long run. When selling items like this, you're best off being clear about everything up front.

The picture for this auction is nice and clear. I like how all of the game cartridges are laid out up front with all of the newsletters and books in the background. It's a very professional layout.

Apart from the title and description, the only other part of the auction that bothers me is that shipping cost. $14 seems way too high for a bunch of lightweight cartridges and some newsletters. The high shipping cost will deter some buyers from placing a bid, and it will limit the final selling price.

Set of "Dragon Marine" accessories

Dragon Marine 1/6 lot #3


ended - Friday, June 13, 2008

Auction grade: F

Starting bid: $7.99

Final selling price: $7.99


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of apparent military gear or something similar to that. The seller calls this "Dragon Marine" lot #3.


The biggest problem with this auction is that the seller is not descriptive at all and doesn't even explain anything about "Dragon Marine". Was this a real military unit? Is this something from a past war such as World War 2? Is this a fictional / fantasy military such as GI Joe? What is "Dragon Marine"?

Depending on what this is will depend on the key words that need to be added to the auction's title. Right now, basic words such as "military", "weapons", and even "collectible" can go into the title, but more is still needed to attract even more potential buyers.

The auction's description is horrible. It's like this seller isn't even trying to sell this lot.

"you get all in picture....alot of neat stuff for diarama etc questions?"

Apart from misspelling "a lot" and "diorama", the seller completely failed in describing the item for sale and creating that "must have" desire that makes people want to place a bid. The seller makes the buyers figure out what's for sale and if they want to pursue it or not. It's hard to find an example of a lazier approach to selling on eBay.

So what can the seller do to improve the chances of this even selling on eBay?

The simplest approach is to describe "Dragon Marine" in the auction's description. If this was a real military unit, let us know a little bit about it. Copy some information from a website if needed. Remember that information in the auction's description is still searchable in the eBay search engine, but only if the user selects the "search title and description" box on the search results and advanced search pages. The search box on eBay's main page only searches through auction titles.

The auction's picture is clear, but the seller still needs to make a listing of the different pieces of military gear included in this lot. If the seller can look up basic information about "Dragon Marine", then the seller should also be able to research the weapons and other military gear for sale.

Remember, the less information that you include will lead to the fewer number of potential buyers that will find your auction. If the auction does sell, then it'll most likely be for the least amount of money you're willing to accept. The goal of any auction should be to attract the maximum number of buyers and increase the final selling price as high as possible.

1) Do your homework. Research the product and tell us about it in the description.

2) Let the buyers know exactly what is for sale.

3) Use as many relevant key words in the auction's title.

4) Keep the starting bid and shipping costs as low as possible to attract bidding.

Old valve seating tool

Valve Seating Tool


ended - Friday, June 6, 2008

Auction grade: D

Starting bid: $5.00

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an old valve seating tool for use in engines. Nothing more is stated in the auction.

The main problem with this auction is the distinct lack of information and text in the title and description. Seeing how the auction's title is repeated in the description, this auction has a grand total of only six unique words. Unless this is an old tool that still works in today's engines and is in demand, this seller is going to have a very hard time having potential buyers find this auction.

The auction's title is in desperate need of a few more key words. In this case, words such as "engine", "old", "vintage", and even "mechanic" would work well to help this auction appear in more search engine listings.

This is all that the seller stated in the auction's description:

"Real Neat Old Valve Seating Tool"

Looking at the different combinations of words in the text that most people would use to search for an item like this, I can use most of my fingers to count out the different combinations. Considering this is eBay with many similar items for sale, that's a very low number of search terms to draw in the buyers.

The target consumers for an item like this is going to be limited. It's already established that those looking specifically for a valve seating tool will find this auction, but what about those mechanics and collectors who would like something like this but search for it with different terms? What if they're just looking for older or just engine tools in general?

This is where adding a little bit of extra text in the description is key. By typing out basic information about this tool such as the type of engines it can be used with (diesel, gasoline, etc.), if it was made to be used with any car manufacturer in particular, or even the different types of valves (intake, exhaust, etc.) it can be used with will definitely increase the chances of other buyers finding this auction.

Sure, some of that stuff may seem like common knowledge for most people, but remember that even basic information like that is filled with relevant key words and search terms. Don't underestimate the potential of typing out even the most basic information about items like this one. You never know how the potential buyers are going to search for a tool like this, so you're best off trying to cover as many angles as possible but without taking a long time to make the auction. Time is money, so if this is believed to be a cheap item, don't spend all day thinking of different search terms.

If you're going to take the time, cost, and effort to make an auction, you may as well try to draw in as many bidders as possible. If it involves spending an extra ten to fifteen minutes doing some basic research and then typing a description, then do it. You're just wasting time and your own money if you're not going to try to draw in the extra buyers.

Despite the title and description, the rest of the auction looks pretty good. You can clearly see the engine tool in the picture, and the shipping cost and starting bids are fairly reasonable. I don't know if other people are experiencing this same problem, but this is a very tall auction template filled with a lot of empty space in the middle of it. I had to do quite a bit of scrolling before reaching the bottom of the page.

It's surprising that a PowerSeller is able to make sales with other auctions as basic as this one. Many of this seller's other auctions have very simple titles and descriptions, but quite a few of the pictures are really poor. This seller obviously has many good items to sell, but if he put in a little more effort with the text and pictures, imagine how much more money he could be making.

My last suggestion to this seller is to set up an official picture taking area. Take a light brown or blue cloth and create a neutral setting for each item for sale. Taking some pictures on the deck, others on the kitchen counter, and even others out in the garage is unprofessional. Unless an item is very large or heavy, try to take all of the pictures in one official area and keep things consistent.

1978 Kiss trading cards

1978 KISS ROCK BAND UNOPENED PACK


ended - Saturday, May 31, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $5.00

Final selling price: $5.50


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a set of unopened Kiss bubble gum trading cards from 1978.

Aside from not typing in all capital letters, the seller needs to find a way to add "trading cards" into the title. If there's enough room "bubble gum cards" would also work. No matter what, you always need to mention the actual item for sale in the title.

The actual description for this item is a lot worse than the title. One of my rules is to never mention yourself or your company before talking about the item for sale. It's fine to add it in the description to help the potential buyers decide to buy from you, but you never want to talk about yourself first. The buyer clicked on the item to learn more about it, not you!

So why does this description suck and need to be rewritten? Here are some items needing immediate adjusting:

1) Everything it typed in all capital letters (big no-no in the online world).

2) There's absolutely no spacing between sentences, making it hard to read what this person is trying to say.

3) The actual item information is very limited and the fourth and fifth sentences in that giant mess of text.


Here's all that the seller could say about this item for sale: "JUST PURCHASED A UNOPENED 1978 KISS ROCK BAND PACK.NEAT ITEM."

That's it. All of the other text deals with the seller taking about his company, shipping and payment information, and other items for sale. There's no information about this package of playing cards or even any basic information about Kiss.

The problem with being this basic and non-descriptive is that unless you're already a huge fan of the rock band, there's absolutely no desirability in this auction. Nothing in the text or picture wants to make you place a bid. It's a workout reading through the unorganized (and at times grammatically incorrect) text and it leaves you more depressed than anxious to buy the item for sale.

I know that this is a PowerSeller who apparently does quite a bit of business each month here on eBay. Almost all of this person's other auctions are listed in the same format, so obviously this person isn't going to be changing their ways anytime soon. After all, why go through the trouble of changing when you're already pulling in good business? The answer is in the form of a pair of questions: How much more money could you be making if customers weren't turned away by the fact that the auction is very basic and hard to read? Is it worth it taking the extra couple of minutes to present a much better looking auction that creates desirability and makes even more people want to buy from you?

If this were my auction, in the description I would first mention everything that I could about the actual trading cards in the first paragraph. After that would be a small paragraph either talking about the rock band or card collecting in general. If I had the extra time I would probably talk about both subjects and how the cards are an investment and appreciate in value. Finally, after creating that high level of desirability I would talk about my auction company. In this case, bullet points showing off the high levels of business and customer satisfaction rating would be excellent.

Remember, sell the product first and then yourself second. Most people don't shop by looking at eBay user names but by the title and picture of the items for sale. People are there to save money and acquire rare and hard-to-find items.

Had it not been for the clear picture of the unopened trading cards, I would have given this auction a failing score. Between the title not mentioning the actual item for sale and the horrible text in the description, this auction has a lot of areas for improvement.

Antique brooch jewelry

ANTIQUE BROOCH VERY DIFFERENT


ended - Thursday, May 29, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is some kind of antique piece of jewelry. Virtually nothing is known about this brooch as the seller didn't provide us with any useful information.

The auction's title is a start for the seller's lack of words or a description for this pin. Words like "jewelry", "pin", or even "fancy" have been omitted from the title. Instead, the seller chose a very simple title with only two main key words.

Here's all that the seller wrote for the description:

"ANTIQUE BROOCH VERY OLD AND IS VERY DIFFERENT THEN I HAVE EVER SEEN, REALLY NEAT BROOCH"

In addition to writing in all capital letters with a larger than average font and therefore insulting our (the buyers) intelligence, the seller failed to mention anything specific about this item for sale nor create any desirability for this piece of jewelry. The actual picture of this brooch also isn't that great as it's very hard to make out any details.

So with virtually no good information in the description and a bad picture of the item for sale, what could the seller have done to make this into an auction with a much greater chance of selling for a decent price?

First, the seller needs to learn how to take better pictures. When it comes to selling items online, it's critical to have at least one good picture that clearly shows off the details and/or any special features of the item for sale.

Second, the seller needs to learn how to do online research to find out basic information about the item for sale. This isn't rocket science and with only a few minutes of work it's fairly easy to find out even the most basic details about virtually anything. Doing so will help you think of different terms and key words to use in the title and auction's description. This may also help you think of a selling technique to help market the item, which brings us to our next point.

Third, this seller needs to create desirability for this antique piece of jewelry. Whether it means talking about how nice and stylish it'll look on a shirt or as pair of a decoration in your hair, you need to give the potential buyers reasons on why they should buy this product from you. Remember that eBay doesn't do any selling by itself. You're the one responsible for marketing and selling your items!

Fourth, and last, if you're unable to find out any specific information about an item for sale, make an educated guess. Let the buyers know that you're guessing, but tell them what you honestly think about the item for sale. NOTE - Be careful when using this technique and make sure you do research first. You can really make the buyers insulted if you're guessing is way off.

To me, it looks like the main decoration on this brooch is one of those thin and decorative, hand held Chinese fans. That kind of information would be good in the description and title.

It's a little surprising seeing a PowerSeller with this poor of an auction. Then again, many of the seller's previous auctions involve this poor layout and selling style. At least one auction earned the seller a piece of negative feedback because the seller wasn't clear in the auction. The title said one thing while the description said something else. To top it off, the seller's response to the negative feedback criticized the buyer for not paying attention in the auction.

The lesson to sellers is this: Pay attention to what you're doing!

Tour service brochure for Chicago's 1933 World's Fair

THE GRAY LINE, A Century Of Progress,World's Fair


ended - Thursday, May 22, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $1.00

Final selling price: $3.25


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a bus tour guide for when Chicago hosted the "A Century of Progress" themed World's Fair.

This auction's title can easily be rewritten to include more key words and avoid having a subtitle. For low cost auctions like this one, it's actually not worth it to have the subtitle because that directly cuts right into your profit (assuming the auction even sells). Save the subtitles for higher priced auctions.

"Chicago", "World's Fair", "Gray Line", "bus tour", "vintage", and even "antique" should all be able to fit into a new title, along with possibly adding the years of the fair itself.

The auction's description leaves a lot of room for improvement.

"This is a very good Print in very good condition for The Grey Line bus tour's of The World;s Fair Chicago."

- "very good" - redundant when used twice in a row like that

- "Print" - "print"

- "Grey Line" - "Gray Line" (just like how it's printed on the brochure)

- "bus tour's" - should be "bus tours"

- "World;s" - "World's"

- "The World;s Fair Chicago" - could be rewritten such as "Chicago's 1933 World's Fair"


Apart from that poorly constructed sentence above, there isn't any other information about this item or Chicago's 1933-34 World's Fair. This is a golden opportunity to add a little bit of extra information to A) add in a few extra key words, and B) educate and get the customer more interested in the fair and this item from that period in time.

The auction's pictures also need to be improved. I like how the seller made an official backdrop for the pictures. That part looks very nice and shows that the seller is trying to be professional. The unprofessional parts are how the seller shot in a widescreen resolution (16:9 or 16:10 instead of the usual 4:3 that most people use) for a tall and narrow item. It's fine to shoot pictures that way for wide items, but not for something like this. The seller also should have rotated the camera onto its side to take vertical pictures of the brochure.

Personally, I also believe that the seller is displaying too many pictures of this brochure. Old flyers and brochures typically have low final selling prices, so every extra item added to this auction (subtitle, extra pictures, etc.) just lowers your final profit. In this case I would just use the two main fold-out pictures that show the brochure in general. It shows the buyers enough information without them being able to read everything in the brochure and not placing a bid.

Overall, this auction can be trimmed down and improved to slightly increase the chances of having it being sold on eBay. I used the term "slightly" because sold individually, most old and vintage brochures like this one typically sell for very low prices, if they sell at all. This has a reasonable starting bid and a very low shipping price, but there still isn't much of a market for items like this to be sold by themselves. If this was my auction and I had other old brochures similar to this, I would just group them together and sell them as a lot (after I scan them and keep a copy of it for myself, first ;) ).

On a side note:

"I am liquidating a estate and have allot of very neat things"

- "a estate" - "an estate"

- "allot" - "a lot"

used Red Wings away Federov jersey

DETROIT RED WING JERSEY, VINTAGE FEDEROV # 91


ended - Sunday, May 18, 2008

Auction grade: C+

Starting bid: $14.95

Final selling price: $44.75


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a used road hockey jersey for Federov (# 91) of the Detroit Red Wings.

The title' for this auction doesn't look that bad. Apart from not having it in all capital letters, I would also add "road" and/or "away" in front of the word "jersey", and if there's still room available in the title, "hockey" is always a good word, too.

The auction's description needs to be rewritten so that it's easier to read and follow what the person is saying. The red lettering wouldn't have been my first choice for the color of the text, but I appreciate the seller using it for the spirit of the hockey team.

"I HAVE 2 OF THESE AND DECIDED TO SELL ONE."

I would have left out that piece of information. The seller already mentioned that this is in good condition. Not excellent, but just good. Now that we know that the seller is holding back one of these jerseys for himself, we also know that he's holding back the better of the two jerseys. Psychologically, as a buyer, I don't like the feeling of placing a bid on a used and most likely inferior item.

"WE HAVE A GREAT HOCKEY TEAM, BUT NOT MANY JOBS HERE. I WILL BE SELLING OTHER ITEMS ALSO."

Again, the seller is being too wordy about non-auction related material. This is the seller trying to use sympathy to sell this jersey. We all have our own problems and it's no secret that Detroit's economy has been going down the drain for the past many years. That's what happens when incredibly corrupt people are elected into the local and state public offices and nobody stands up to stop them from their evil ways. Detroit has been going downhill and seeing increasing crime and corruption ever since the 1960s. Again, this isn't exactly a new trend for the once great American city. I'm originally from that city and most of my relatives still live in the Detroit-metro area.

Getting back to the auction, this seller needs to stay on topic and focus on selling the jersey. It wouldn't hurt if the seller mentioned anything specifically wrong with the jersey (any dirt, tears, fading, etc.) and why it's only in "good" condition. The seller could have also listed a brief biography and some of Federov's stats from when he was with the Red Wings.

Even when selling on eBay, it's still necessary to get the buyer all pumped-up and eager to place a bid. I don't have that feeling when looking at this auction. The pictures are pretty good and it's nice seeing a classic Red Wing's jersey available for sale, but with the seller's bland attitude and text style there's no sense of urgency anywhere.

Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction and the price looks pretty good. With a few minor updates to the title and a general rewriting of the main body of text this should bring in some serious buyers.

vintage trinket / jewelry box

vintage painted box


ended - Thursday, May 15, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $1.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is some sort of vintage painted box. That's all that I can really say about it myself as the seller provided very little information about the actual item for sale.

The auction's title is virtually useless when it comes to search engine optimization. With the lack of key words and phrases, it's going to be blind luck that most people interested in this sort of item will actually find it from this seller. What good is taking the time, effort and money to create an auction if very little people are going to find it?

The auction's description is also very short and mysterious, providing the buyers with very little information about the item for sale. It's never a good sign when the seller types more information about their policies and other auctions than about the actual item for sale.

"6 1/2x31/2x2 inch box, Please look at my other auctions as I always have lots of neat stuff, I DO NOT ACCEPT PAYPAL"

For starters, the seller needs to space out the dimensions and make it easier to read. The version written above is garbled and cramped together, looking very sloppy and unprofessional.

We, the buyers, have no idea anything else dealing with this box. There's no indication of its age or origins, the material it's made out of, or even its overall condition. Nothing at all!

In the "Item Specifics" section, it's mentioned that this is a "trinket box". To me, that's an excellent key word that needs to be worked into the title and description. "Jewelry box" should also be used the same way in this auction.

Despite taking the time to take pretty good pictures of this painted box, the seller isn't even trying to sell it to potential buyers. The auction's description is a prime spot to write a small blurb about different ways the potential buyers can use and/or display this vintage box in their home. Don't just rely on pictures and a shoddy title & description to do that work for you. Take the time to at least try to make the advertisement more professional and enticing to potential buyers.

Looking at this seller's other items for sale, there's a definite pattern on the seller's lack of wording in both the title and description. True, this person has sold quite a bit of merchandise on eBay over the past year, but think of how much more could have been sold and for higher final selling prices. Obviously there's a demand for these older goods, but through proper internet marketing there is a great potential for even more sales.

One final note is that the seller is only turning away potential buyers by not accepting PayPal. That company may have some unfair policies and high fees at times, but you'll still come out ahead of the deal by offering customers as many ways of making payments as possible. This is especially true for those in today's fast paced world who would rather make an online payment and have their item shipped out that much faster.

Alpengeist roller coaster poster

Alpengeist Roller Coaster Busch Gardens Poster 1997 NR!


ended - Friday, May 9, 2008

Auction grade: B+

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $5.50


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an attraction poster for the Busch Gardens Williamsburg (now called Busch Gardens Europe) inverted roller coaster --- Alpengeist.

The title for this auction looks pretty good. Between using the ride's name, what it is, and the theme park's name, the title should help bring in quite a few different searches. The only change I would have made would be to take out "1997 NR!" and add "Europe" right behind "Busch Gardens". Unfortunately, "Williamsburg" won't fit, but the park's current name should squeeze in there just fine.

The auction's description looks decent, too. I like how the seller mentioned the poster's overall dimensions and that there are a couple of wrinkles. It's also good how the seller noted that the frame is not included in the auction. It would have been nice if the seller could have gone into a little bit of detail about the ride itself and the theme park. Free tools such as Google and Wikipedia make doing basic research like that simple and easy, and the extra key words and phrases in the auction's description will help in the search engine results, too.

My only major complaint with this auction deals with the picture. A large reflection (most likely the camera's flash) is obscuring the top of the poster, and the poor angle makes it hard to read the text and make out some of the details. Always be careful when taking pictures of items behind glass and plastic as it's very easy to catch reflections and flashes in the pictures. In this case, the seller would have been better holding the camera steady and using a longer exposure or higher ISO shot instead of using the flash.

Overall, this is a pretty good auction. The attractive starting bid is sure to draw in bidders of amusement parks and roller coasters alike.

posable Shrek toy

SHREK DOLL -- BRAND NEW!!


ended - Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Auction grade: C

Starting bid: $5.95

Final selling price: $5.95


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a fully posable Shrek action figure toy. The seller claims that this is brand new in the box.

For starters, the auction's title could use some extra work. The seller needs to add "toy", "plush", "NIB", "posable", and even "poseable". If the box was in perfect condition, then the word "mint" could also be added to the title.

It's interesting that it's written "poseable" on the box, yet technically that word is misspelled. The correct version is "posable". Dictionary.com confirms this information. It's also interesting that other types of posable Shrek action figures use the correct version of the spelling.

The auction's description isn't bad, but then again it's not outstanding and doesn't make me want to place a bid. The seller keeps calling it a doll despite recommending it for "action figure lovers" at the end of the description. The seller should have just stayed neutral and called it a toy or even a plush toy (only if it's soft). Dolls usually aren't fully posable like this one, and action figure collectors usually don't like it when people refer to their items as being "dolls". This is the same thing as when people refer to grocery store shopping carts as "buggies". It may not necessarily be wrong at times, but using an overgeneralization of a term just makes a person sound dumb.

It would have been helpful if the seller could have given us a rough measurement of the item's size. Is this one of those massive twelve inch tall figures, or is this one only half that size?

Sam Adams pint glasses

SAM ADAMS 6 PINT GLASSES WHITE ALE NEW


ended - Saturday, May 3, 2008

Auction grade: C+

Starting bid: $15.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a set of six Samuel Adams White Ale pint glasses. The seller claims that they are brand new.

The title for this auction is pretty good. Apart from not using all capital letters, I would also find a way to sneak the word "beer" into the title. If need be, "glasses" can be shortened to "glass." The eBay search engine considers the two words to be the same. If the seller were to change it to "pint glass", he should also put an "x" in front of the "6" and make it "x6".

There's a toss-up on how to handle the auction's description for this particular auction. The problem is that the target audience for these glasses is a wide range of adults ranging from those still in college to those in retirement who want to build or add to their collection of beer memorabilia. If the seller wanted to specifically market the glasses to the partying college crowd, then the large font and color in the description is appropriate. However, if the seller wants this auction to be for everyone or mainly for those older than thirty, then this description needs a serious makeover with the font and actual text.

For the sake of argument, let's assume that it's better to market this to everyone instead of just the college crowd. Naturally, the wider target audience leads to a better chance of making the sale at the end of the auction. In that case the seller needs to cut the font size in half. The color is fine as it's easy to read and gives this beer-related auction a fun atmosphere.

"Get one of these awesome Samuel Adams White Ale Pint Glasses for your house, dorm or party or collection!"

The first problem in this sentence is that the seller is encouraging the buyer to get one of these fancy glasses. The problem is that even in the title this is being marketed as a set of six glasses. The seller needs to rephrase that line of text to reflect the actual set of glasses instead of just one of them.

The other problem in this sentence deals with the sellers usage of commas to separate different ideas for the glasses. It might read better if it was written "house, dorm, party, or even your beer or pint glass collection."

"Set of 6 Brand New Never Used Logo 16 OZ Beer Pint Glass."

Here the seller is resorting to capitalizing the first letter of each word for effect. Perhaps a better idea would be to capitalize all of the letters in the most important word or phrase, and then using bold or italic for the other important words. This will look a lot better and keep the advertisement looking more professional than the format that the seller used. Also, since the seller is talking about the set of six (not "6") glasses, the word "glass" at the end of the sentence should instead be "glasses."

"Product Type : towels"

That needs to be changed!

The picture of the pint glass looks pretty good. We can clearly see the logo and the fact that the glass looks nice and clean. It would have been nice if the seller provided a group shot of all six glasses together. For many of these auctions involving lots or collections, people like to see all of the items included in the picture(s). For an auction with starting bid and shipping costs that high, the price of adding a second picture into this auction is minuscule.

Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction if we assume that the seller is mainly targeting these pint glasses for the younger crowd. If the seller expects this auction to be for everyone, then some changes are going to be needed in the auction's description to make it look much more professional. The high shipping cost makes me want to believe that the seller is going to be extra careful with wrapping and shipping the glasses.

New Motorola V265 cell phone

Motorola V265 (Verizon Wireless)


ended - Thursday, May 1, 2008

Auction grade: C+

Starting bid: $25.99

Final selling price: $25.99 (Buy It Now)


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a brand new Motorola V265 cellular phone for Verizon Wireless.

As expected, the title for this auction is surprisingly short and lacking a few key words & phrases. The seller needs to include words such as "cell phone", "new", and even "camera phone".

The auction's description looks very good. I like how the seller tells us a little about the phone in what appears to be his own words before giving us the technical information that most serious cell phone buyers need to know. The technical information neatly copied from CNET, which is fine since the seller made mention of using the CNET source in the auction's description.

To help aid the buyers, the seller should have made a listing of the different cables included with this phone. It's relatively safe to assume that the standard ones are included, but you know what they say about assuming.

The other problem with this auction deals with the starting bid and shipping costs. When you put the two together, unless you live in Ohio (sales tax reference, not an education joke) you're looking at paying around $36 total. While this is still cheaper than buying the phone in a retail store, many other online retailers are offering the same brand new phone for around this same price. In other words, people are most likely not going to make a bid since it's not an online bargain that eBay is so famous for having. People expect to find deals on eBay. Taking at least $5 off of the starting bid will help gain a lot of attention and potential bids.

The other problem is that this phone is over three years old. That integrated VGA camera with its mighty 640x480 resolution may have been fine back then, but that's nothing compared to what today's camera phones can do. The target audience for this cell phone is going to be limited.

The picture of the cell phone and cables is nothing to write home about. You can see the phone
, but it's a bad angle and you cannot make out the different cables hidden behind it. The seller would have been better off using an elevated shot of the phone and cables taken out of their bags and neatly laid out next to the phone. Pictures like the one above don't get people excited about the phone. Using personal pictures is better than only using stock images, but you still need to learn how to take better pictures.

Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction, but it still has a few areas for improvement.

Lot of original trilogy Star Wars action figures

14 Original Kenner Star wars Figures


ended - Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Auction grade: D

Starting bid: $19.99

Final selling price: $19.99


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of sealed Star Wars characters from the original Star Wars trilogy. These figures were manufactured by Kenner at the height of Star Wars' main wave of popularity. My own research shows that they are all part of the Green Card version of the "Power of the Force" series.

The auction's title doesn't look bad, but I would still make some changes to have this auction appear in more search engine results pages. "Kenner" is good and "Star Wars" is always good, but I would add the word "Action" in front of "Figures" (more people will search for "action figures") and also find ways to add in other key words such as "vintage", "toy", "OT" (original trilogy), and even "lot".

The auction's description is going to need quite a bit of editing to make it easier to read and a little more professional. First of all, the large font needs to go. It may look cool if you've never listed an auction before, but it really shows the person's inexperience and inability to make good decisions. The red font is fine, but the size of the font needs to be cut in half. Unless it is one, don't make this auction look like a scam.

The next major area of correction in the description is something that I harp on for a lot of these auctions that I criticize --- spelling and grammar. This seller needs to learn how to make complete sentences and proofread what they type. Read it a few times and make sure it makes sense and sounds somewhat professional before publishing the auction.

"every ting" --- everything

"every ting you see in the 4 group lots plus as you can see" --- Yeah. It's actually one lot with three close-up pictures of some of the action figures. Not all of them in the main picture are also photographed in the other pictures.

"in the action display photo there are also an aditional Han Solo, and a Luke Skywalker in white Storm Trooper disguise" --- Perhaps it would read better if it was types something like: "As pictured, this set also includes a Luke Skywalker in a white Storm Trooper disguise and an additional Han Solo." With the seller writing it the other way around, it sounds like you're receiving both Han and Luke in their Storm Trooper disguises like they wear in Episode IV.

"all Items are new in there bubbles." --- The "A" should be capitalized instead of the "I", and also it's "their", not "there". Learn the difference!

"bene" --- been

"some one" --- someone

It's good that the seller mentioned in simple words how his uncle cut away the packaging for easier storage. That move severely devalued the action figures, but at least we know that the original packaging isn't complete.

In addition to correcting the entire text in the description, the seller should also make a bullet point listing of all of the characters and costumes in this collection. Why should somebody do that much extra work to earn the sale? Three reasons:

1) Some of the fans are looking for specific characters and that's how they search on eBay and Google (eBay listings are conveniently indexed by Google).

2) Most people want to know exactly which characters and variations are included in this auction.

3) The pictures are small and it's hard to see most of the details.

When selling items in lots, be prepared to take the extra steps to provide good, accurate pictures and descriptions. Many people have been scammed by items that were misrepresented or assumed to be in lots. Take the extra time to list the lot properly to protect yourself and aid the buyers. Don't make them guess or write you an e-mail to confirm whether or not something is included in the auction.

By making these changes and learning how to type sentences, this auction will attract more buyers. Whether or not it sells is still determined by the starting bid, shipping costs, and overall trend in the market. For an auction like this, it's also important to note that most of the serious buyers only want the action figures in their original, complete packaging. In this case the figures are still sealed and apparently brand new, but that's it.

Hubley die-cast Lockheed Electra

Twin Engine Hubley Airplane


ended - Saturday, April 26, 2008

Auction grade: B

Starting bid: $25.00

Final selling price: $37.00


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a vintage die-cast toy airplane manufactured by Hubley Manufacturing Company. Specifically, this is a Lockheed Electra from sometime in the late 1930's. It's not stated, but this actual die-cast aircraft was most likely manufactured in the late 1940's after World War 2.

Starting out, the auction's title could use some adjusting for better eBay search engine optimization. Key words such as "Lockheed", "Electra", "vintage", "model", and even "die-cast" can be added. If needed, "Twin Engine" can be replaced with a better search word or phrase. Then again, since the seller already paid for use of the subtitle, those additional key words can also go down in that part of the title. Maximize your key words and phrases to make your auction appear in as many relevant search engine results as possible.

The auction's description isn't bad. I like how the seller goes into brief detail about this die-cast model airplane. I would like to have seen the seller give us the airplane's basic measurements from nose to tail and along the wingspan. It also would have been nice if the seller could have done some research and given us the general age of the metal toy. My basic research shows that it was probably manufactured sometime in the late 1940's, but that's just my educated guess.

The other correction I would make to the description is when the seller talks about the item's overall condition. While the aircraft looks pretty good in the pictures, it still shouldn't be considered "excellent". The seller even admits it when he mentions the paint chips.

"The plane does have a few small paint chips."

Looking at the pictures, I would presume that some of the paint chips are missing, most likely from the aging process. In the pictures it looks very good, but I wouldn't go so far as calling it excellent.

The pictures are great. The seller gets extra credit from taking the time to show use lots of different angles of the aircraft with the main landing gear raised and lowered. There's just no sense of scale in either the pictures or the auction's description. Judging by the relatively low shipping cost, I would guess that the aircraft isn't that large or heavy.

Overall, a few minor changes in the title and description should bring in more potential buyers. I'm a little bit mixed about the starting bid. If this aircraft really is rare and in excellent condition, the actual value of it would probably be three or four times the price of the starting bid. That's another reason why the seller needs to do a little more research and sell the idea of this being a very old and antique collectible item.

Conair personal groomer / trimmer

CONAIR


ended - Friday, April 25, 2008

Auction grade: B-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0.99


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an electronic personal groomer made by Conair.

The worst part of this auction deals with the auction's title. Just the manufacturer isn't going to cut it (pun intended) to draw in bidders searching for an item like this. Remember that by using the default search settings the buyers are only able to search through the different titles. You have to manually check a box that says you want to search through the titles and descriptions.

"Conair" itself is a good keyword. Anybody looking for that company's products while searching for just that name will find this auction. The problem is that it's harder for people looking for general grooming devices and other hand-held electronic devices to find this particular auction. Other good key words would be "electronic", "beard", "mustache", "trimmer", "electronic", and even "grooming device". Use those key words and phrases to your advantage and try to draw in more potential buyers.

The auction's description and pictures look great. I like how this seller listed all of the technical information and sales points in an easy to ready style and font. The only issue with that method is that it makes this seller look like a dealer. Whether or not that's true, the seller's other auctions (only about five total) have that similar look and feel to them. If this is a dealer, I would expect more than two feedback points for somebody who has been registered at eBay since August of last year.

The seller may want to make a note at the top of the auction and say for a fact if this is still new in the box. The item's condition says "new" and the stock photos are meaningless for showing us this exact item's condition. If it's still sealed in the original box, then that's another strong selling point and it needs to be made clear in the description.

The stock pictures look excellent and the low starting bid should definitely entice some bidders to place a bid on the item. I also like how the seller gives the buyers a couple of different shipping options. All of the prices are a little on the high side, but that's not much of a concern if somebody wins this auction for a really low prices. Professional trimmers like this usually cost around $40-70 in most stores.

Overall, this is a sharp and well created auction. My only main problem is with its title and lack of key words. With the title being the most important part of the auction here at eBay, it also weighs the most in my scoring system.

baseball card & autograph listing

RYAN HOWARD CARD+FREE PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES AUTOGRAPHS?


ended - Thursday, April 24, 2008

Auction grade: F

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a 2008 Topps baseball card for Ryan Howard. Basic internet research tells us that he plays for the Philadelphia Phillies. Also included with this card, and the main selling point of this auction, is a listing of player's names and home addresses, implying that if you send them a card then they will autograph it and send it back to you.

To start the criticism, the auction's title could use a bit of work. The seller needs to decide on the main item for sale and focus on marketing that item exclusively. Seeing all of the text in the auction's description, I'd guess that the seller is really pushing for people to buy his listing of player's names and addresses. After all, it's virtually free for him to send out e-mails with that kind of information whereas baseball cards are physical items and need to be shipped.

If the seller were to focus on the actual autograph listings themselves, then key words such as "autograph", "sports", "baseball", "football," and even a few key players' names could be included. Put yourself into the shoes of a buyer and try to use different key words to try to find your auction. See which words are more common than others, and in those searches see how high your auction ranks in the various search listings.

The first time I read through the auction's description, the word "scam" came to my mind. Here's a person using a large font with all capital letters, lots of spacing, and horrible grammar trying to sell us the idea of writing to current and former players and asking for autographs. The concept is simple and from the sound of things anybody can do it and have success doing so. It sounds too good to be true.


Let's take a look at a few examples from this seller's sales pitch.


"YOU ARE LOOKING AT A 2008 TOPPS RYAN HOWARD CARD, IF GRADED I THINK WOULD GET A 8 OR BETTER" - Actually, no we're not. The picture shows other sports cards and this is the only point in the auction that the Ryan Howard card is even mentioned (besides in the title). It's not even clear if it has been autographed or not. What is known is that the card has not been authenticated by anybody, whether it has been signed or not.

"WANT FREE AUTOGRAPHS?,"

"THE WINNER OF THIS ITEM WILL GET A RAMS ADDRESS LIST" - St. Louis Rams? The title talks about the Phillies.

"IM SURE YOU TRIED YOUR LUCK PULLING AUTO'S FROM THOSE 5 AND 10 DOLLAR PACKS AND ENDING UP WITH A JOHN DOE OR NOTHING AT ALL,"

"THE AUTOGRAPHS YOU SEE AINT FOR SELL, JUST TO SHOW YOU WHAT YOU CAN GET THROUGH THE MAIL," - Ahh, yes. It's so easy, anybody can do it!

"THE 1ST WAS SIGNED BY 11 DIFF NFL HOFERS, 2 HAS PASSED AWAY MAKING THIS CARD EVEN MORE RARE,"

"I BEEN COLLECTING THROUGH THE MAIL FOR YEARS AND AND HAVE OBTAINED MORE THEN 2,000 AUTOGRAPHS AND HAD MANY NAMES PSA/DNA CERIFIED"

"WHEN WRITEING TO PLAYERS, BE SURE TO INCLUDE A SELF ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOP, MOST WONT BOTHER WITH YOUR REQUEST WITH OUT IT"

"USE THE BUY IT NOW AND ILL THROW IN ANOTHER LIST OF YOUR CHOOSE"


So there we go. Between the seller's horrible grammar, weird & non-standard abbreviations, inability to form complete sentences, "get rich quick" mentality, and "bait and switch" tactic with using items not for sale in the picture, this auction is in dire need of a makeover to get rid of that scam feeling. Right now it's hard to take this seller seriously.

It's obvious in this auction that the seller is really pushing for you to go along and buy several more of his autograph lists. It's almost pure profit for him to sell them since he claims that he just e-mails them right after he receives your hard-earned money. And with only twenty-one players on the listing, I'm sure the seller has many extra listings that he's eager to sell.

If this was my auction, I would concentrate on selling that Ryan Howard card first (including having a picture of the actual card and making it clear whether or not it has been autographed), and then sell people on the idea of writing to players and asking for autographs. If the seller would rather sell the concept of autograph collecting, then that should be the primary item in this auction instead of the card.

The seller has the right idea with that item combination idea, but the execution is bad. I can see where people might be confused and think that real autographed cards are included in this auction. Then again, some people will read only what they want to read (such as just the title in this auction) and place a bid without knowing everything.

In addition to fixing the picture and all of the text associated with this auction, the shipping fee is way too high for just a baseball card. At least one person made a note about paying the $3.50 fee for something that was just stuck in an envelope. If you're going to sell us the idea that mailing cards to and from former players is so cheap, you could at least extend the same courtesy to the buyers and not rip them off with those shipping charges. This is especially true if the seller e-mails the player address listing instead of sending out a printed copy.

I'm not going to even mention the flaws with buying this card and address listing, hoping to strike it rich with autographs. This blog is only dedicated to actual auctions and the seller's methodology. It's up to the buyers to figure out if this will really work or not.

For an extra laugh, check out the seller's comments in response to buyers' feedback messages. It's always tempting to give buyers sarcastic answers, but his method doesn't quite have the same ring to it.


NOTE TO SELLER --- If you're going to write a snappy answer, you may want to check your own spelling & grammar skills first to avoid confusion as to which one is the dumber person. You may have also noticed by now that it's harder to make certain words stand out for effect when everything is typed in capital letters! On a final note, there are keys on the keyboard called apostrophes. You may want to start using them at some point.

1 gb mp3 player

Mp3 Multimedia Player 1GB Green


ended - Wednesday, April 23, 3008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $4.87

Final selling price: $5.50


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small, portable mp3 player. Not a whole lot of information is given about this particular mp3 player.

For starters, the title could use a little extra work. Key words such as "music" and "songs" would definitely help this show up in more search results. Also, if this is made by a known manufacturer, then that should also go into the title. If need be, the word "multimedia" can be removed as it's a less popular search term.

The auction's description is very short and doesn't tell us anything about the item for sale.

"Very nice mp3 player. Comes in a neat little case with the connecting cables, earphones etc."

Why go through the effort and cost of trying to sell something on eBay if you're not going to tell us about it?

The auction's description is your time to shine as a seller. This is your sales pitch. You've done the hard part and gotten somebody to click on the auction, and now it's your job to sell them on the item and finish the sale. Don't leave them hanging and wanting more information like this. This particular example shows a seller's lazy approach to trying to make a sale.

So what do you do if you don't know anything about the item for sale?

For starters, write down whatever is on the box. If the box mentions roughly how many songs will fit on the player, then make a note of it in the auction. Don't assume that your customers are totally up-to-date on the latest technology trends. If the box doesn't have any solid information, check out the manufacturer's website and look for information there. If that doesn't work then see what other online retailers are saying about the item.

For this mp3 player, we, the buyers, know practically nothing about it. The title says that it has a one gigabite hard drive and another part of the auction has it labeled as being new, but that's it. We don't know the manufacturer, which exact cables come with it, or even how long it lasts on average with a charged battery.

The stock photo doesn't exactly give us much information either.

What strikes me as being surprising is that this auction is being sold by an eBay PowerSeller. A person who should know about selling and how to market items properly has an auction this poorly constructed.

Overall, this auction gives me the impression of a seller trying to sell a cheap, knock-off mp3 player on an unsuspecting person. The bad stock picture, low starting bid, and lack of information all lead to that conclusion. If the seller is trying to sell an honest electronic device that performs and lasts just as long as the major competitor's models, then he needs to make a better effort at actually trying to sell the mp3 player.

Atlanta Braves sling bag

NEW ATLANTA BRAVES BAG SLING BACKPACK SHOULDER CAP HAT


ended - Saturday, April 19, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $27.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a brand new Atlanta Braves baseball sling bag / shoulder bag.

Looking at the title, the seller has the right idea with using key words like that. This particular item is virtually guaranteed to show up in a variety of different searches that people may use. The only major problem (despite this being in all capital letters) is that the seller mentions "cap" and "hat". This auction is only for the shoulder bag and no hats are included. That's false advertising right there.

The auction's description looks pretty good. The pictures are clear and allow the buyers to see the details and features of this sling bag, while the different aspects of the auction are in their own easy to read sections. It's good how the seller listed the bag's basic dimensions. The only adjustments I would make here would be to proofread each section and fine tune the spacing and punctuation to make this look more professional.

This seller's feedback policy is one of the more common ones. Basically, this is an automated version that automatically sends the buyer positive feedback once the buyer leaves the seller positive feedback. This is fine since the amount of positive feedback weighs more than what people actually say in the feedback. Like other sellers, this one warns that if you leave them negative feedback without trying to resolve the problem first, then you'll also receive negative feedback. The sellers have the right to somewhat protect themselves against unreasonable and unkind buyers. Of course, it will no longer be possible for sellers to leave buyers neutral or negative feedback starting next month.

In my personal opinion, I believe this seller is too greedy in the starting bid and shipping costs. Something as compact like this that is being advertised as a "light weight" item shouldn't cost $9.95 for shipping. The high starting bid will discourage many people from placing a bid.

Overall, this is a pretty good auction that uses the right ideas and strategies. The main reason for such a low score is with the false advertising in the title. False hope is no way to get people to click on the auction.

Roll of old wheat pennies

FOUND - OLD ROLL OF WHEATS FOUND IN BANK LOCK BOX!L@@K


ended - Friday, April 18, 2008

Auction grade: D

Starting bid: $4.00

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an old roll of wheat pennies from the 1910's through the 1950's.

The title for this auction is horrible. People who use the default search settings are going to have a very hard time finding this particular auction of old coins. Instead of telling us where you found the coins, you need to instead be talking about the coins themselves. The title only gives you so much room to work with, and you need to fill it with as many relevant key words and phrases as possible.

For this auction, good key words in the title would be "coins", "pennies", "old", "wheat", "roll", "undiscovered" and even "vintage". Stick with words like that first before wasting the remainder of the available space with things like "L@@K".

The extremely large font used in the auction's description needs to be lowered. Using all capital letters is the equivalent to having a person shout at you in person. Using all caps with a font this large is like somebody standing in front of you and using a bullhorn to talk. It's very annoying and gives you the appearance of trying to scam a person. It's also insulting to the buyers.

The actual text in the auction looks pretty good. It's fine how the seller says how he found the coins, and it's also good that he mentioned some of the different decades for the pennies. However, previous customer feedback implies that not every roll of pennies that this guy sells will include coins from the decades that are listed.

"WE TRY TO PROVIDE ROLLS OF QUALITY TO ARE BUYERS."

This sentence says it all.

This stock picture of some of the pennies needs to be replaced with a real picture of the exact roll of pennies for sale in this auction. Buyers are going to be disappointed and will leave negative feedback if their coins don't look exactly like the ones in the picture (condition wise). I've seen it happen many times.

Finally, the last item of concern in this auction is the handling time and the fact that the seller only ships the items one day each week.

"HANDLING TIME WILL BE 4 BUSINESS DAYS. ALL
ORDERS WILL SHIP ON A THUR OF EVERY WEEK"

If you're trying to pass yourself off as a real eBay seller, you really need to find a way to ship your items two or even three days a week. Seeing how the postal service doesn't operate on Sundays, most people are going to have to wait at least an extra four days after the item is shipped before they'll receive it. I hate unnecessary delays in receiving my items as much as the next buyer. Do them a favor and make an effort to put the items in the mail faster.

Overall, this seller needs to make a few title and appearance adjustments if he wants to become a more professional and respected eBay seller.